Published: May 22, 2014, 09:34 PM (IST)
Edited: May 22, 2014, 09:39 PM (IST)
By R Vishal
May 22, 2014
Dwayne Smith‘s early blitzkrieg and solid middle order performances by David Hussey and MS Dhoni propelled Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a formidable 185 for three after being asked to bat by Sunrisers Hyderabad iner Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 on a Ranchi wicket that didn’t show any demons.
Smith got Chennai off to a rollicking start by smacking the joint wicket taker Bhuvneshwar Kumar for three boundaries in the over. First one was down the ground and then a whack on the off side. Smith then got to the pitch of the ball to punch a cover drive for another boundary.
The battle of the South Africans then went firmly in Faf du Plessis’s way. After being asked to open after the departure of the prolific Brendon McCullum, du Plessis played a gorgeous straight drive and then flicked Dale Steyn behind square leg. Steyn then sprayed on his T20 captain’s pads and it was effortlessly put away behind square on the floor for another four. At this point, Chennai had scored six boundaries for all of their 24 runs. Du Plessis continued his assault in the next over as well after coming down the pitch and stroking it past mid-off for another boundary in the next over off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar. Salvation came for Hyderabad when Smith smashed a Karn Sharma delivery straight down the ground and the ball hit the bowler’s hand went on to disturb the stumps.
Parveez Rasool was then brought on to the attack and Dwayne Smith unleashed a brutal attack on the Jammu and Kashmir spinner, unperturbed by the departure of his opening partner. First, he whacks the ball down the ground to clear the boundary easily. Then Smith went slightly square and its another six and then down the ground just over Aaron Finch’s head. 20 runs came of the over and Hyderabad were scratching their heads for answers.
After Smith’s fabulous assault on all the top order bowlers, Karn got the important breakthrough by trapping the run-machine in front with a leg spinner. Smith played all over the wicket and was trapped in front. With two new batsmen at the crease, the scoring rate had come down drastically. Getting frustrated by the scoring rate Raina tried to go after the bowling and he couldn’t clear the boundary and Aaron Finch caught a good catch, inches before the boundary line. Raina will be disappointed for missing out on a decent batting wicket.
In came skipper MS Dhoni and the batsmen were stifled by Darren Sammy’s smart rotation of his bowlers. David Hussey was finding it hard and Dhoni too was biding his time at the crease. The barren spell after Raina’s wicket didn’t produce any boundaries but one just knew an attack was brewing. After being 68 for two in the seventh over, the team hundred came up only in 14 overs. Just then, the batsmen went after Irfan Pathan in the 15th over with David Hussey leading the charge with a couple of big shots, 17 came of the over. 13 came of the next one and Chennai got a move on. Aaron Finch then made a big leap of Dhoni at long-on but could only palm it over the boundary.
With both batsmen going strong, Sammy’s options were thin the bowlers continued to go for easy runs in the death overs. Bhuvaneshwar bowled a good penultimate over and then MS Dhoni led a fabulous assault on Dale Steyn in the last over. Dhoni first hammered one over long on for a six and then Dhoni’s long handle came to full effect and bludgeoned another four down the ground and finished the innings with another six down the ground of a wide delivery and finished the innings with a heave over mid-wicket for a boundary. 24 came of Steyn’s over and Hyderabad need a mountain to climb from here.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 185 for 3 in 20 overs (Dwayne Smith 47, David Hussey 50*, MS Dhoni 57*; Karn Sharma 2 for 19) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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(R Vishal is a journalist and alumni of Asian College of Journalism. He can be followed on Twitter @vishhell)
